The Confucian Clue: Practicing Anti-Negotiation Toward Taiwan

Abstract

Studies of state behavior often face the difficult choice between “motivational analysis” and “structural analysis.” If the state is a unity of human beings with a distinct disposition and character,1 state behavior should be understood from perspectives that acknowledge the importance of history, culture, and personality. If, on the other hand, the state is a matter of structure2 or arena,3 its behavior is then a reflection of some perpetuating foundations or principles. The same question can be addressed to China scholars concerning how cultural Chinese foreign policy making really is, or, to put it in academic terms, to what extent international systemic structures constrain China’s external behavior.4